MOSCOW, October 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russian and foreign investigators have agreed on a unified approach to probing the July seizure of the Arctic Sea dry cargo ship and its crew, a spokesman for Russian investigators said on Monday.

The Finnish-owned, Maltese-flagged cargo ship manned by a Russian crew and listed as carrying lumber from Russia to Algeria, was reportedly boarded by a group of eight men on July 24. Officials later said it had disappeared in the Atlantic. It was freed off Cape Verde on August 16 by a Russian warship.

Vladimir Markin said that during a series of meetings in Helsinki from October 7 to 9, investigators swapped information gathered since the probe started.

On October 8, Russian prosecutors confirmed that the Arctic Sea was anchored off Gibraltar.

The ship has been the focus of media speculation, with some reports saying it was carrying Russian S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran or Syria. Moscow has denied the reports.